1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pump for dispensing a liquid from a terminal orifice. More particularly, the invention relates to a pump and a mixer for mixing a liquid concentrate and a liquid diluent for discharge from a terminal orifice.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art has known many types of pumping systems for pumping and dispensing a single or a plurality of liquids from a terminal orifice. Many of these devices relate to a system for mixing a liquid concentrate with a liquid concentrate in accordance with a pre-determined relationship and then dispensing the mixture from a terminal orifice. One important application for such a mixing and dispensing device is in the dispensing of liquid food products such as fruit juices, vegetable juices and the like. In many cases, fruit and vegetable juices such as orange juice, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice or tomato juice is stored in a frozen concentrate form for use at a later time. The frozen concentrate is then thawed and mixed with a water diluent to produce an end product equivalent to the original fruit or vegetable juice. In order to produce an end product which is equivalent in flavor and in consistency to the original fruit or vegetable juice, the concentrate and the water diluent must be accurately mixed in a predetermined volumetric relationship. Accordingly, the devices for mixing a liquid concentrate with a liquid concentrate must be accurate and reliable to produce an end product equivalent to the original fruit or vegetable juice.
When dealing with food products, other design problems are encountered when designing a pumping and a mixing device for a food dispensing device. First, the pumping and a mixing device must be readily accessible for cleaning the internal portions of the pump after each use. Second, the pump must be designed to pump accurate volumes of concentrate independent of the viscosity of the concentrate. It has been found that frozen orange juice concentrate has different viscosities depending upon the temperature of the frozen orange juice concentrate, the time of harvest of the crop and well as the specific type of orange juice harvested during the relatively long citrus harvesting season. As a consequence of these requirements, peristaltic pumps were popular choice in the prior art for pumping a liquid food concentrate. Peristaltic pumps not only performed well but were simple and low cost. However, the peristaltic pumps had the distinct disadvantage of a relatively large physical size and well as a limited variation in flow rate. Consequently, the flow rate of the liquid diluent had to be controlled in order to obtain different concentrate-diluent ratios for various fruit and vegetable juices. Further disadvantages of the peristaltic pump include a pulsating liquid flow, a noisy operation and a limited life of a deformable tubing in the peristaltic pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,650 disclosed a novel dispensing device wherein the flow rate of a liquid diluent was kept at a constant rate and the flow rate of a liquid concentrate was varied by varying the speed of a pumping motor to obtain a desired volumetric ratio of liquid concentrate to liquid diluent. This dispensing device performed very satisfactorily and advanced the art of dispensing and mixing of a liquid concentrate with a liquid diluent.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a liquid pump which improves upon the system and operation of the dispensing device set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,650. It is a further object of this invention to provide a liquid pump which substantially advances the liquid dispensing art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump is disposable and may be shipped with the container of the liquid concentrate.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump accurately and reliably pumps liquid concentrate irrespective of the viscosity of the liquid concentrate.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump and mixing device is a reliable and inexpensive unit enabling the pump and mixing device to be discarded after the liquid concentrate within the container is depleted.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the container and the pump are adapted to inhibit the refilling of the container with liquid concentrate and the reuse of the pump thereby insuring the quality of the product internal the container.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump may be readily engaged with a motive means for reciprocating a portion of the pump for pumping the liquid concentrate from the container.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump may be coupled with motive means concurrently with the insertion of the container within a refrigerated compartment within the dispensing device.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein a fluid coupling between the liquid diluent and the pump is accomplished concurrently with the insertion of the container within a concentrate compartment or a refrigerated concentrate compartment within the dispensing device.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent wherein the pump cooperates with the container to provide a one-way valve means for enabling the flow of the liquid concentrate only from the container into the pump.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent including an overcap for covering the pump secured upon the container and for sealing the pump to prevent contamination and leakage of the concentrate during shipment and storage.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved pump and mixing device for pumping a liquid concentrate from a container and for mixing the concentrate with a diluent which substantially reduces the number of parts required for a liquid dispensing postmix machine of the type herein set forth.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method of venting a concentrate container to the atmosphere while simultaneously preventing leakage of the product during shipping, handling and use.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed as being merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the invention. Accordingly other objects in a full understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.